Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Michael Goldstein is a journalist and playwright based in Los Angeles. Italy is one of the world’s most beloved countries.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... By Albert Stumm, The Associated Press ASSISI, ITALY — A hilly patchwork of yellow and green Umbrian fields unfolded on both sides of the road as I zipped ...

Umbria comes by its moniker honestly. It’s a land of rolling hills, vineyards and picturesque villages. Assisi is the most famous town, known for its Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi and stunning ...

Italy has long been a favorite country to visit among travelers. However, there are still plenty of places in Italy that have been overlooked—including one that's been named an underrated summer ...

Reporting from Civitella, Italy — The anonymous stone building on the outskirts of Civitella, my Umbrian hilltop village, was a mystery to me. Every time I drove past, it was shut up and seemingly ...

Guanciale and carbonara. Guanciale and amatriciana. Guanciale and gricia. Like Romeo and Juliet, Dolce and Gabbana, and Maradona and Naples, the Italian pairing of this tender and flavorful deli meat ...

For many years, Italians have hailed Umbria as Tuscany's prettier sister, a dramatic, mountainous country towered over by the Apennines to the east. Being the only landlocked county on the Italian ...

To mangle a familiar quotation from Tolstoy, all regions of Italy are different, but each is Italian in its own particular way. Suppose the Italian regions were women (humor me here). Lombardia would ...